Ray Gosling admits wasting police time over lover's Aids death

A former Granada television presenter has admitted making up a confession that he killed a lover dying of Aids by smothering him with a pillow. Award-winning broadcaster Ray Gosling, 71, who hosted the On Site show for Granada in the 60s and 70s, pleaded guilty at Nottingham magistrates court to a charge of wasting police time.

Award-winning broadcaster Ray Gosling, 71, who hosted the On Site show for Granada in the 60s and 70s, pleaded guilty at Nottingham magistrates court to a charge of wasting police time.

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A former Granada television presenter has admitted making up a confession that he killed a lover dying of Aids by smothering him with a pillow.

Award-winning broadcaster Ray Gosling, 71, who hosted the On Site show for Granada in the 60s and 70s, pleaded guilty at Nottingham magistrates court to a charge of wasting police time.

The presenter and freelance broadcaster, who appeared in court wearing jeans and a suit jacket and carrying a plastic carrier bag, said initially that he would deny the charge.

But after speaking with his solicitor, he told magistrates: “Digby Johnson, my solicitor, tells me technically I am guilty.

“I just want to say, very clearly and very strongly, sorry to my lover's family and for the distress I have caused them and sorry that apparently I have wasted police time.”

The veteran broadcaster and gay rights campaigner has made a string of acclaimed documentaries, including the BBC Four series Bankrupt and Pensioned Off.

His documentary Ray Gosling OAP won a Most Entertaining Documentary award in 2007.

He made the false confession - which led to the charge being brought - on a BBC East Midlands Inside Out programme on death and dying, broadcast in February. He was charged with wasting police time by repeating the claims in an interview with Bill Turnbull on BBC's Breakfast show on February 16.

Gosling told the court: “In my heart and in my head I plead not guilty.”

But after a short adjournment with his solicitor he admitted the charge.

Simon Clements, prosecuting, described the comments made by Gosling on the programme as well as in interviews after.

The court heard a criminal investigation started on February 16 and Gosling was arrested on the following day on suspicion of murder.

He was interviewed five times over two days, repeating the claims and giving details of the alleged mercy killing.

But in the fourth interview, after an overnight stay in a police cell, Gosling admitted he had not been present at the death and had made up the story about putting a pillow over the man's face.

He told police: “I must've been thinking away from the media pressure that I've previously had. And I am not sure I put the pillow on his head and ended his life.

“I think I might've got carried away by hearing other people's stories of how they were going to or had done their partners in.

“Everything else was true. He was my lover, he had Aids, he was dying. The pillow bit, I might've got carried away. We did have an agreement, whether I'd have done it or not I don't know.

“But I don't think I did ... and I don't want to waste police time, your time, and put people to unnecessary work.”

Gosling, who didn't name the man or reveal the date of his death, will be sentenced later after speaking to probation officers, the court heard.